Pitt Dental Medicine DMD Class of 2024 students, Shobena Jeevan, BDS, and Sindhu Gopalaswamy, BDS, MS, have been selected as Schweitzer Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year.
Dr. Shobena Jeevan
Dr. Jeevan's project will address the impact of nutrition on the dental care needs of children in underserved areas. The scope of the project goes beyond oral health literacy to include the five core principles of social justice and to include parents in identifying the impediments to their child receiving appropriate oral health care. Dr. Jeevan will further curate resources and individualize the help that each child will need.
"As the author, Paulo Coelho said in his book, The Alchemist, ‘every person on the face of this world has their own personal legend; he/she should strive to achieve it; because one’s personal legend is a person’s only real obligation.’ With his strong words echoing in my mind, I believe that my childhood—the school of hard knocks—has prepared me to be the person I am today. I aim to be the person who helps a child in dismay—the person who is fond of children and yearns to be of service to them, in any way I can."
—Shobena Jeevan, BDS.
Dr. Sindhu Gopalaswamy
Dr. Gopalaswamy's project will address the management of the oral health care needs in special needs population.
“I am always in admiration of the tenacity and the strength displayed by people with special needs and their families. Therefore, this project envisions enabling them to more effectively and independently manage their oral health care needs.
As dentists, oral health education is an imperative part of any dental treatment plan. During my time in the Pitt Oral and Craniofacial Sciences program, the significance of multifactorial inheritance in oral health care was emphasized. My project stems from these two terms. The aim is to educate the targeted group to understand and address the impact of systemic health on oral health, and vice versa.
At the end of my fellowship, I hope that the people I work with will be able to ask the right questions to receive the care that they deserve.”
—Sindhu Gopalaswamy BDS, MS